The news that Taylor Wimpey has extended rescue talks with its lenders into 2009 prompted a bout of collective teeth-sucking in the City last week. In a statement to the stock exchange, the housebuilder said its banks were supportive of a deal to relax lending covenants, but that talks had been extended beyond the December 2008 deadline to include bondholders, who are owed a ￡450m slice of its overall ￡1.7bn debt. The timing could not have been worse given the wider ructions in the banking sector, but whether this leaves the glass half-full or half-empty is open to debate. Charlie Campbell, an analyst at Liberum Capital, said news of the banks' positive stance was the "first step" towards the housebuilder's survival and retained his "hold" recommendation on the stock.
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